Ground Breaking

The Olivia Business Centre was awarded the highest WELL Health-Safety Rating in March of 2021 by the International WELL Building Institute. Located in Gdańsk, Poland, the eight-building corporate park offers 2.5 million sf of world-class office space and accommodates over 200 companies. Achieving 25 out of 25 available points in all WELL Health-Safety categories, the complex leverages advanced infrastructure to continue operations safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Features include:

4Front Ventures is planning a 558,000-sf expansion of its cannabis cultivation center in Elk Grove, Ill. Supporting the production of 4Front's branded flower, edibles, tinctures, and concentrates, the campus will be the largest cannabis operation in the state of Illinois to date. Representing an investment of $45 million, the first 258,000-sf phase of construction will include 65,000-sf of flowering canopy space and a 70,000-sf manufacturing facility. Construction will begin in 2022 with operations commencing by the end of the year.

ApiJect will break ground in December of 2020 on the Gigafactory campus in Durham, N.C. Strategically sited in Research Triangle Park, the complex will be the world’s largest pharmaceutical fill-finish facility, offering an annual production capacity of three billion single-dose prefilled injectors. Funded by a federal loan of $590 million, the one million-sf project will provide BSL-2 manufacturing areas, cold and ultra-cold storage infrastructure, and an onsite needle and cannula factory.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities has attained the world's first WELL Health-Safety Rating for laboratory space at Alexandria LaunchLabs in New York City. Augmenting the center’s existing WELL certification for building design, the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facilities Operations and Management includes further measures to protect the health of tenants, employees, visitors, and service personnel. Protocols at Alexandria LaunchLabs include:

Marmon Plumbing & Refrigeration has partnered with Micron Pure, a subsidiary of Hecto Group, to create the CerroZone™ system for the mitigation of airborne SARS-CoV-2. The continuous indoor air purification system, which has been tested at the University of Missouri's Laboratory for Infectious Disease Research, reduces 99 percent of live SARS-CoV-2 in a single pass in under 30 seconds.

Johnson Controls opened the $37 million OpenBlue Innovation Center at the National University of Singapore in September of 2020. Located in the School of Design and Environment's SDE4 building, the 2,600-sf facility is a living laboratory for the development of customizable, contact-free applications built on Johnson Controls' unifying digital technology suite, OpenBlue.

Avista Development and McKinstry opened the $40 million Catalyst Building in Spokane in September of 2020. Designed by Michael Green Architecture, the five-story, 159,000-sf facility was built by Katerra using cross-laminated timber (CLT) structural components. Certified by the International Living Future Institute, the zero-carbon, net-zero building features a highly efficient heating and cooling system, a sophisticated building envelope, LED lighting, and integrated energy management technologies.

JAC Construction and its sister company Level 3 Design Group are partnering with Industrial Commercial Systems and Ultraviolet Devices (UVDI) to bring an advanced UV-C air disinfection solution to commercial and hospitality markets. The program, StayProtected, is a comprehensive approach that combines leading technology with holistic methods to help prevent the airborne transmission of viruses, including SARS-CoV-2.

Songbird Life Science has launched a COVID-19 testing and health-protection service for facilities. Promoting public confidence in the occupancy of shared spaces, the company offers rapid onsite testing that provides results in minutes. 

Fitwel launched its Viral Response module in July of 2020. The platform provides annual, third-party building certification of policies and practices informed by the latest public health research on mitigating the spread of infectious diseases. Fitwel, a healthy building certification system operated by The Center for Active Design, was originally created by the U.S. General Services Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Global technology company Tencent is planning to build the 320-acre Net City in Shenzhen, China. The sustainable, self-contained development is being designed by NBBJ as a fully integrated 'city of the future' sited on 21 million sf of land. Terraced structures up to 30 stories tall will be nestled in abundant green spaces connected by pedestrian and cycle routes. Rooftop photovoltaic arrays will be mounted on most facilities.

Access to quick, reliable, and repeated testing has been one of the greatest challenges for businesses, institutions, and individuals during the SARS-CoV-2 crisis. HOK has partnered with Germfree Laboratories to design a mobile testing lab that will help large organizations to meet this urgent need. These self-contained biocontainment facilities can provide advanced, onsite capabilities for any setting.

Wheaton College's Pine Hall is the first academic residence hall in the state of Massachusetts to attain PHIUS certification from Passive House Institute US. Consuming 50 percent less energy than a conventional structure, the 45,000-sf facility features advanced HVAC and lighting systems, triple-glazed windows, solar shading, and high-performance walls and roofing.

The University of Mount Union has created an innovative plan to safely resume instructional and residential operations in fall of 2020 in Alliance, Ohio. As well as making modifications to all areas of campus including classrooms, housing, dining areas, and group meeting spaces, the university will implement the Social Distancing Learning Model which includes both face-to-face and remote instruction. 

Exyte is partnering with Univercells Technologies to create modular biomanufacturing facilities to meet the increased global demand for vaccines during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Exyte’s prefabricated construction system, ExyCell, is paired with Univercells’ NevoLine biomanufacturing platform which features the scale-X™ fixed-bed bioreactor at its core.